Critical to grasp here is the suggestion of the need for dialogue. That the existence of Islamic terrorism is the result of problems with us Americans as well as problems that may exist in Islam. And it all would be fixed if we understood each other better.So that's comforting. We Americans have never done anything for the Islamic World to be upset at, and there is certainly no need for us to understand Islam.
This is simply false.
Americans don’t need any lessons about freedom and tolerance.
. . . Feisel Abdul Rauf should spend his $100 million, wherever he is getting it from, to advance the cause of freedom in Islamic countries. That is where the problem is. It’s certainly not here.
Personally I think this debate over the Ground Zero Mosque proves the opposite. The essential problem is that one group of American Citizens wants to build a religious center on lands they own. And as American Citizens they should have the right to do so. Unless, somehow, you don't think Muslims deserve the same rights as the rest of us.
2 comments:
There's a big difference between whether someone has the legal right to do something and whether that thing is a good idea.
I can oppose the Ground Zero Mosque without opposing the legal right to build it. I can be against it--and I am, quite strongly--without being against freedom of religion.
I'm all for freedom of speech, but I am against you insulting my wife, or my kids. In fact, if you try insulting them, I will get pretty fucking hostile. I don;t think that the government should be able to forbid you for insulting them, or put you in jail for it. But I am still dead set against you saying it.
I think that there are good reasons to question whether the Groud Zero Mosque is appropriate or not, and whether it is insulting or offensive. The builders don't get a free pass form criticism or opposition just because they're exercising a Constitutional right.
Freedom of religion doesn;t mean you get freedom from criticism or even freedom from opposition.
That may well be your position, but that clearly isn't the position of many Conservatoids who are opposing the Ground Zero mosque, as witnessed by their attempts to legally stop this Mosque from proceedings.
I understand why there might be good reasons to oppose this mosque, if you don't see any real difference between peaceful practitioners of Islam and the Islamic terrorists who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11.
I see them, however, as two seperate groups, and am offended at the suggestion that somehow Islam and Muslims should be ashamed or embarrased by their faith, and should be required to practice it out of the sight of the rest of us.
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